Campaign funds flow from within, without

Developer in Halfmoon, New York City billionaire make their presence felt

By Jimmy Vielkind

Published 11:11 pm, Wednesday, July 18, 2012

ALBANY — Nearly a quarter of the campaign money raised by Saratoga County Clerk Kathy Marchione came from a Halfmoon property developer, and a billionaire from New York City was able to send $45,000 to Capital Region candidates, campaign finance disclosures filed with the State Board of Elections show.

Marchione, who is running in a Republican primary against Sen. Roy McDonald, has benefited from the largess of Bruce Tanski, whose residential and commercial holdings dot Saratoga County.

He wrote her campaign a personal check for $6,500, the legal maximum for a GOP Senate primary, and sent the same amount from three businesses he owns: Snyder's Restaurant, Halfmoon Heritage and McGregor Village apartments.

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Each is incorporated as a separate limited liability corporation, or LLC. Under the state's election laws, each LLC is treated as a separate entity, subject to the same limits: $6,500 for most Senate primaries, another $10,300 for the general election and $150,000 annually.

It's an arrangement that good-government groups have long decried, and will likely be scrutinized in a promised push for campaign finance overhaul by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Changes may include tighter limits and a plan for public matching funds.

In the meantime, candidates in the Capital Region are taking advantage of the laws' quirks. Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, got $30,000 from three LLCs linked to Leonard Litwin, a billionaire New York City condo developer who regularly showers New York Republicans with cash.

Amedore, who is running in a new Senate district stretching west and south of the Capital Region, from Amsterdam to Kingston, said he met Litwin some time ago.

"It came from one builder to the other — I think some of his businesses were generous," he said. "They're all there and it appears in a pretty transparent fashion."

"This enables people like Mr. Litwin to give many times more than the average New Yorker would consider giving in a single year, or even earning in their lifetime," said Mahoney, who said LLCs should be counted in combination with the individuals who control them.

Tanski, a Clifton Park resident whose construction projects in recent years have focused on Halfmoon, could not be reached for comment; an assistant in one of his offices said he was dealing with a medical issue.

In 2011, Tanski was forced to take back some money he gave to Halfmoon Town Supervisor Melinda Wormuth because he exceeded legal limits. He said he has never gotten preferential treatment for donating to any politician.

"Nobody tells Bruce Tanski what to contribute, where to contribute and how to contribute," Tanski said in 2011.

He has given Marchione $26,000 of the $113,321 she has raised since declaring her candidacy in March.

"It means that Bruce Tanski and I have been friends for many, many years and that he believes I would be a great senator," she said.

For his part, McDonald raised twice as much as Marchione. His donors include political action committees and lobbyists that often stoke incumbent coffers, but he also received large donations from around the country. McDonald's fundraising has been supercharged since he broke GOP ranks last year in a vote to legalize same-sex marriage, something Marchione opposes.

A Times Union analysis found that just over half the $133,305 McDonald raised from individuals came from donors outside the Capital Region, including a Los Angeles-based team-building consultant, Weston Milliken, and a Ukrainian-born fertilizer billionaire, Alexander Rovt.

"I have been blessed that people from all over the place are sending me money, and I have friends around the country who I know from one capacity of my life or another," McDonald, R-Saratoga, said. "You never turn the money down if they're responsible people."